Restoring coral to health
Corals are able to respond to changes in their environment through acclimation (the physiological process of becoming accustomed to a new condition) and adaptation and researchers believe natural populations may already be adapting to increasing sea surface temperatures.
Coral reef biodiversity predicted to shuffle, not decline
Rather than causing a collapse of biodiversity, the dual stressors of ocean warming and acidification could instead lead to significant changes in the relative abundance of species, resulting in a shuffling of coral reef community structure, according to a new study by researchers from University of Hawai'i.
Sprawling coral reefs are complex ecosystems that are teeming with life and most of this biodiversity consists of tiny organisms living deep within the three-dimensional reef matrix.
Some coral reefs are adjusting to ocean warming
Ocean warming is causing declines of coral reefs globally, raising critical questions about the potential for corals to adapt. In the central equatorial Pacific, reefs persisting through recurrent El Niño heatwaves hold further important clues; We have previously reported on Red Sea coral resilience to climate change.
Are atolls rising to keep up?
Atolls are often only around two meters (6.6 feet) above sea level, but sea levels could rise by more than that by the end of this century, according to prevailing climate models. Four atoll nations -- the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, Kiribati, and the Maldives, which are together home to more than half a million people -- were the most vulnerable on the planet to climate change but under threat was also those in the Caroline Islands, Cook Islands, Gilbert Islands, Line Islands, Society Islands, Spratly Islands, Seychelles, and Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
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Warmer weather shrinks fish
This is the findings of a new study in Global Change Biology by the University of British Columbia. The reason for this future decline in size stems from the fact that fish are cold-blooded animals, and are thus unable to regulate their body temperatures.
“When their waters get warmer, their metabolism accelerates and they need more oxygen to sustain their body functions,” said co-author William Cheung, associate professor at the Institute for the Ocean and Fisheries and director of science for the Nippon Foundation-UBC Nereus Program.
Project Baseline: Conserving through Citizen Science
Project Baseline works by organizing and mobilizing a global network of highly skilled and passionate divers to create a lasting visual legacy of underwater environmental conditions one photo and one video at a time. Their images, descriptions, and data are moved into an online database designed to render their observations accessible to the world. Their images create a baseline for environmental quality.
Proposed bill to ban lionfish sales in Florida
Tallahassee lawmakers are joining spear-wielding divers in an attempt to control Florida’s ever-increasing lionfish numbers. If passed, the two proposed bills would halt the public’s ability to purchase lionfish for aquariums and raising them for sale would become a level two felony.
All of the details of the bill have not been decided. I’m saying let’s get rid of them. Put an end to lionfish in aquariums.
—Sen. Greg Ever
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Why and how ecosystems change
Across the globe, coral reefs are in peril—this is already old news. Man-made stresses—overfishing, pollution and climate change—has sent even pristine coral reefs around the world into a drastic decline causing major changes in ecosystem structure.
Acidification of the Oceans
There has been much discussion in recent years about the effect of increasing global temperatures on marine fauna (see also the last issue of this magazine). However, it has often been overlooked that the increasing acidity of the oceans may have an even greater, and more insidious, effect on marine life than just a simple rise in temperature.
Invasion of the King crab
King crabs invade Norwegian waters.
The Cold War has been over for more than two decades, but a relentless red army of monster crabs are still pouring over the border of Russia into Norway. The crabs are feared by environmentalists, but not by scuba divers.